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May 22, 2021 by Travis Jonker

School Librarian Saturday: CodeSpark Academy

May 22, 2021 by Travis Jonker   Leave a Comment

In School Librarian Saturday, I’m going to share the websites, databases, apps, and other stuff I use with students in my K-5 teacher-librarian role, under the cover of internet darkness (see: the weekend).

Today we have the coding app CodeSpark Academy.

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What It Is: CodeSpark is an app (and now a website as well) that gamifies the basics of computer coding.

What’s Good About It: Educator accounts are free (non-school use is subscription-based). It’s wordless, which makes it accessible to a wide range of students. The puzzles do a nice job of building on skills and teaching coding concepts in a fun way.

What’s Bad About It: Users can spend forever customizing their characters and never get to the actual coding. But this shouldn’t be an issue with a little grown-up guidance.

Last Words: CodeSpark is well-done and substantial. Don’t tell anyone, but I sort of can’t believe it’s free for educators. Recommended.

Filed under: School Librarian Saturday

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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